1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a biological measurement apparatus, a biological observation apparatus and an operation method for the biological measurement apparatus, and specifically relates to a biological measurement apparatus, a biological observation apparatus and an operation method for the biological measurement apparatus, which use an endoscope and a liquid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for, e.g., disease diagnosis, biopsies in which a living tissue is extracted to conduct an examination have widely been conducted. Although biopsy is a method in which a living tissue itself is extracted to conduct an examination, optical biopsy methods have been proposed. In the optical biopsy methods, an examination is conducted by means of evaluating the state of a living tissue by applying light to the living tissue and measuring the light reflected by the living tissue, rather than extracting the living tissue.
For example, as disposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-535027, spectroscopy has been known as a system in which a probe including an optical fiber therein is inserted through a channel in an endoscope and is made to project from a distal end portion of an insertion portion of the endoscope to irradiate a tissue with light, thereby measuring the characteristics of the tissue. In the system, light from a light source is made to enter one end of the optical fiber and the light exits from a distal end of the probe projecting from the distal end portion of the insertion portion of the endoscope. Reflected light from the living tissue is received by one end of an optical fiber other than the optical fiber for emission. The light entering a distal end of the optical fiber for light reception enters a spectroscope through the optical fiber and is subjected to spectral measurement.